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Columbus Crew SC (2008, 2020, 2023 MLS Champions)

Cucho has unlocked a lot of these player’s confidence they’ve been lacking without a reliable forward up front. Steven Moreira had his best game since joining the Crew at RB, had some great hold up play, and probably should’ve been awarded a PK early in the 1st half. Nagbe and Morris looked more confident to move the ball forward than they have all season. Igbekeme was the perfect sub for Diaz later in the game.

This team is primed for a nice run, and barring injury could be on a collision course with LAFC for some hardware.
 
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That was a hell of a game. Atmosphere was fantastic and the lightning stayed away. Feels good to be above the playoff line again. This team is so much fun to watch. In particular, I thought Aiden Morris had a fantastic game. Dude was everywhere

For Cincinnati, the Nordecke changed the lyrics of "You came a long way just to lose" to "You should have stayed in the USL" :lol::lol:
 
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Disregard what I said about making a run, Caleb Porter is the worst manager/coach that’s won multiple championships of all time. His tactics suck, his sub choices suck, his management of the roster has been shit outside of about 13-14 players. He’s fumbled arguably one of the best signings in MLS history by continuing to trot Derek Etienne Jr out there week after week. Etienne is USL quality, at best. He’s a dead end winger, and it’s made even worse by Porter’s constant favoritism towards certain players that don’t belong on an MLS roster. If Tim Bezbachenko knows what’s best for this team and wants to salvage anything out of these last few games, he’d fire Porter’s ass tomorrow. I don’t have any confidence in that happening, though.
 
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Disregard what I said about making a run, Caleb Porter is the worst manager/coach that’s won multiple championships of all time. His tactics suck, his sub choices suck, his management of the roster has been shit outside of about 13-14 players. He’s fumbled arguably one of the best signings in MLS history by continuing to trot Derek Etienne Jr out there week after week. Etienne is USL quality, at best. He’s a dead end winger, and it’s made even worse by Porter’s constant favoritism towards certain players that don’t belong on an MLS roster. If Tim Bezbachenko knows what’s best for this team and wants to salvage anything out of these last few games, he’d fire Porter’s ass tomorrow. I don’t have any confidence in that happening, though.

Looks like you stayed up to see the end of that shitshow. I gave up on it ever resuming at about 11:30.

Yeah, I'm finally on the FCP bus. The inability to generate anything resembling offense when running Z and Cucho out there is simply inexcusable. Add in the ineptitude with set pieces or defending set pieces. And the repeated late-match collapses. I'm just done with it. The only offense this team can generate is from Luis Diaz out running dudes down the right wing. Or Cucho occasionally going super-human. That's it. Whatever they are doing is not working. Zelarayan (and Cucho to a lesser extent) have been ineffective for weeks now and Porter has done what to open things up for them?

And I just don't get Etienne at all. When the USMNT played Haiti last summer, he looked so good. And he's at least been okay for the Crew in the past. But this season, he's been truly awful.

And yet Porter comes out talking about how well the team played and they deserved to win....like, I get that I'm not a soccer expert....but did we watch the same fucking match?
 
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Columbus has something like the 4th biggest payroll in MLS. Porter keeps asking the fans to "be nice" to him

Dude. Quit underperforming. Start coaching at the quality you have in the past. Columbus fans should have the 4th highest expectations in the league to match the payroll. There is NO reason why we can't be one of the 14 teams making the playoffs
 
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Looks like you stayed up to see the end of that shitshow. I gave up on it ever resuming at about 11:30.

Yeah, I'm finally on the FCP bus. The inability to generate anything resembling offense when running Z and Cucho out there is simply inexcusable. Add in the ineptitude with set pieces or defending set pieces. And the repeated late-match collapses. I'm just done with it. The only offense this team can generate is from Luis Diaz out running dudes down the right wing. Or Cucho occasionally going super-human. That's it. Whatever they are doing is not working. Zelarayan (and Cucho to a lesser extent) have been ineffective for weeks now and Porter has done what to open things up for them?

And I just don't get Etienne at all. When the USMNT played Haiti last summer, he looked so good. And he's at least been okay for the Crew in the past. But this season, he's been truly awful.

And yet Porter comes out talking about how well the team played and they deserved to win....like, I get that I'm not a soccer expert....but did we watch the same fucking match?

I’ve stayed up for every shit show these last few weeks. I was telling a friend that the league has just past him by. His tactics are stale and dated and don’t get it done anymore. There’s a reason he was much more successful when the league had far fewer talented players on every team. He’s similar to Bruce Arena in that regard, but Arena doesn’t run his mouth constantly when the team is doing well.

DEJ started the season really well scoring 4 goals in the first 6-7 games, but MLS squads have figured out how to neutralize his very limited skill, and he doesn’t know how to adapt. Instead, he just sulks around, rarely getting back into position. Several times last night, he was slow to get back into position, defense forced a TO, and played a ball where he should have been just to turn the ball over. I’m just not sure I trust CP’s judgement to select players given his consistency with playing players severely underperforming.

The back line is what it is, and he can’t do much about that. But what he can do is stop forcing the team to bunker when they hold a lead giving up the entire midfield. Every single time he’s bunkered, the Crew have lost the lead and squandered 2-3 points in the process.

Ironically enough, if they can manage to start Pedro Santos and Luis Diaz in the winger positions, they might (MIGHT) just put themselves in a position to put a team away by multiple goals, instead of relying on the team to park the bus for the 75th unsuccessful time. James Sands has proven to be a more than worthy starter at LB to allow Santos to play in a more natural position.

Beyond this season, I’d like to see the team actually address this team’s weaknesses, instead of just accepting their shortcomings. Realistically, they need two CBs, LB, backup RB, GK, holding CM, backup CAM, and a reliable winger off the bench. It’s not like they need to spend $10m on each need, either. I doubt they overhaul the roster, but it’s needed if they want to stay competitive and keep Z and Cucho happy.
 
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coach-letterkenny.gif
 
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Hell of a way to finish that game. Derek needed that kind of game for his confidence. I think a win and a draw gets us in, so here’s to hoping. A beat down of Charlotte on Wednesday would be ideal since the Crew have Orlando on Decision Day.
 
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